Need info for a friend...(medical issue)

Berzin

Banned
Nov 17, 2004
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I have a friend who has what he calls "floaters" in both eyes that require some type of laser surgery.

The details that I have so far are as follows-

The surgery to correct this is not covered by his insurance, and when he inquired about it at a hospital here in NYC he was quoted a price of $28,000 for each eye.

He then spoke to someone whose mother had the surgery in the DR for $15,000 pesos.

So basically I need information on an eye surgeon who performs this procedure so I can have him either call the doctor or see him/her in person to discuss his options and what the real prices for this procedure are.

He is diabetic and I believe also has cataracts. He is having surgery today to see if they can stop the bleeding he has in one eye, and from what I can gather the blood that has been clotting in his eyes is what is causing the "floaters", so the surgical procedure he needs would be to rid his eyes of these clots if this makes sense.

It doesn't to me but I am hoping that someone out there in DR1 Land can help me out with this. He plans to go to the DR sometime in February so if I can get some useful info to pass along to him he(and I) would appreciate it.
 

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
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There are some very good eye doctors here and in Santo Domingo ("here" being Santiago).
Dr. Asilis is one that comes to mind and Dr. Guzman.
Asilis is in Clinica Bonilla and Guzman is in Corominas.

HB
 

jruane44

Bronze
Jul 2, 2004
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Usually "floaters" appear due to a detatched retina. Your friend can go blind if he doesn't take care of this immediately. I can not believe these insurance companies that play games when it comes down to something as serious as possible blindness. Good luck with your friend. Also listen to Hillbilly if insurance companies are still playing games.
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
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dr1.com
Many people suffer from floaters and have no retinal issues.
It's not a sign of a detached retina, unless they are VERY severe as in the case of your friend. Usually vitreous floaters are treat with a YAG laser.

Retinal detachments are usually treated using laser photocoagulation, cryopexy or a vitrectomy and are normally very expensive procedures.
Often they use gas with the aid of gravity to push the retinal tissue back into place to aid the healing process.

Going by what you posted Berzin, your friend does not have an attachment, he/she has bleeding into the vitreous, caused by leaking capillaries. Usually the doctor performs a fluorescein angiogram or ICG angiogram to determine the location of the leaking capillaries, then they use these images to photocoagulate or weld the capiliaries closed. This is not an uncommon procedure and is performed in the surgeons office. I'm sure a few Opthal's in the DR have the lasers and perform this procedure on a regular basis, hence the low cost compared to the USA.

I used to live and breath this stuff back in the day :)
I worked on the early development and deployment of the first
Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope (SLO).

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